![\"Brenda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/STT-L-SACCO-1023-02.jpg\")
Brenda Sacco makes comments after being sworn in as interim Lackawanna County Commissioner in a courtroom in the Lackawanna County Courthouse in Scranton Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\nSCRANTON \u2014 Democrat Brenda Sacco took the oath of office Wednesday, filling a Lackawanna County commissioner seat vacant for nearly eight months while vowing to work hard for county residents for as long as she holds the position.<\/p>\n
Her tenure will ostensibly last until the results of a Nov. 4 special election for commissioner are certified later in November and the winner sworn in to serve the remainder of former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin\u2019s unexpired term running into early January 2028. Sacco expressed hope Wednesday that she\u2019ll hold the seat for the remainder of that unexpired term, albeit without articulating a specific legal argument for why that should be the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a question that we\u2019re definitely going to look at and evaluate,\u201d Sacco said when asked how long she expects to serve. \u201cI wish I was here seven months ago, because ultimately I should have been here seven months ago, but I\u2019m here today and I\u2019m going to work really really hard to really look at the reassessment, look at the budget and see what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brenda Sacco makes comments after being sworn in as interim Lackawanna County Commissioner in a courtroom in the Lackawanna County Courthouse in Scranton Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
Her swearing in is the latest development in an acrimonious monthslong odyssey marked by legal battles and verbal bouts over filling the seat McGloin vacated in late February. Sacco was appointed to the vacant position pursuant to a county Home Rule Charter process that Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan and the county challenged in court.<\/p>\n
That legal battle began in March and ended Monday when the state Supreme Court upheld the charter process, enabling Sacco\u2019s swearing-in after her appointment was postponed early last month pending resolution of the legal challenge.<\/p>\n
The charter process that survived in court saw the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee advance Sacco and two other potential appointees to fill the commissioner vacancy for consideration by the judges of the county Court of Common Pleas, who appointed Sacco in early September.<\/p>\n
The appointment order signed by seven county judges says they appoint Sacco\u00a0\u201cpursuant to the dictates of the Home Rule Charter of Lackawanna County until a successor is elected and qualified in accordance with law, but in no event later than the first Monday in January, 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Judge James Gibbons administered the oath of office Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Among those gathered in the audience were former state Rep. Thom Welby, the Democratic nominee in the upcoming special election for commissioner, and county Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick, who has long defended the committee process that led to Sacco\u2019s appointment despite blistering criticism from Gaughan.<\/p>\n
Patrick stressed Wednesday that there will be a special election and encouraged voters to cast ballots, but said the county Democratic Party is not taking a position on who should serve \u2014 Welby or Sacco \u2014 if Welby ultimately wins the Nov. 4 contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur position is Brenda will serve as commissioner, there will be a special election and then we will see what happens with that going forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gaughan, who voted in late August to declare the special election for commissioner while acting in his capacity as a member of the county election board, remains adamant that the winner, not Sacco, should serve for the next two-plus years. Any suggestion to the contrary is \u201cdisheartening and disgraceful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat they\u2019re insinuating is that they\u2019re going to try to disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters in Lackawanna County,\u201d he said. \u201cIf she wanted to be commissioner so bad why didn\u2019t she just run (in) the election. There\u2019s three people who are running right now who raised money, who are running campaigns and who are going directly to the voters of Lackawanna County asking for people\u2019s vote, which I respect. Leave it up to the people. Apparently she just wants to be installed in here and stay for two years. Even the suggestion of that is just so delusional, it\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to Welby, the Democratic nominee, the special election ballot features Republican nominee Chet Merli and independent candidate Michael Cappellini.<\/p>\n
Sacco and the Democratic committee were plaintiffs in a recent lawsuit seeking an injunction to block the special election, but that effort was unsuccessful. A panel of three county judges denied the injunction last month, and a Commonwealth Court judge later upheld the panel\u2019s ruling on appeal.<\/p>\n
How Sacco and Gaughan might work together as the Democratic majority commissioners remains to be seen, but Sacco said Wednesday she respects the position.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a fellow commissioner,\u201d Sacco said, noting she reached out but didn\u2019t hear back from Gaughan after her name was submitted as a potential commissioner appointee. \u201cI just want to get in there and work and do a good job. I am here to serve the residents of Lackawanna County, and I\u2019m hoping he\u2019s willing to work with me as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sacco brings considerable county government experience to her new role, having previously led the county\u2019s Department of Planning and Economic Development for about five years before Gaughan and McGloin dismissed her shortly after taking office in January 2024. They gave no specific reasons at the time for letting her go, but it\u2019s not unusual for new majority administrations to replace department heads.<\/p>\n
Sacco later secured a job as an administrative officer for the State Workers\u2019 Insurance Fund, a role she resigned to accept the commissioner appointment.<\/p>\n
Her tenure with the county economic development office began in August 2013 as deputy director of operations and finance under Director George Kelly, who left in January 2019. Kelly, who attended Sacco\u2019s swearing in Wednesday, ran for commissioner that year as incumbent Democratic Commissioner Jerry Notarianni\u2019s running mate, but didn\u2019t advance beyond the primary.<\/p>\n
Commissioners elevated Sacco in early 2019 to replace Kelly as director, first in an acting capacity. She served through the next administration of Notarianni, fellow Democratic Commissioner Debi Domenick and Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak, often earning praise for her performance.<\/p>\n
Sacco said Wednesday that she and Chermak, now her Republican counterpart, have very similar work ethics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here to serve the people and to do the right thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 Democrat Brenda Sacco took the oath of office Wednesday, filling a Lackawanna County commissioner seat vacant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-11449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-lackawanna-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-scranton","13":"tag-scranton-headlines","14":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}